THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


American  Bob  Whites  and  Quails 

By  DR.  R.  W.  SHUFELDT,  C.M.Z.S. 

Fellow  Amer.  Ornith.  Union,  Hon.  Member  Royal  Australasian  Ornith.  Union,  Etc. 
WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  DRAWINGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS  BY  THE  AUTHOR 


PART  I— INTRODUCTION 


N  former  articles  of  mine, 
published  in  the  Outer's 
Book,  I  have  described 
and  figured  all  of  our 
United  States  species  of 
ducks  and  grouse,  with 
the  various  allies  of  the 
latter  group.  Similar  pa- 
pers have  also  been  pre- 
pared and  illustrated  on  the  American 
species  of  geese,  and  these  will  appear  in 
this  magazine  later  on  this  year. 

It  is  my  intention,  in  the  present  series 
,  of  articles,  to  describe,  figure,  and  give  data, 
[for  the  purpose  of  identification,  of  all  of 
Lour  species  of  bob-whites  and  quails.     For- 
Ptunately  I  can  illustrate  these  articles  through- 
lout  with  reproductions  of  photographs  made 
Iby  myself  direct  from  the  living  birds,  and  for 
rthe  opportunity  to   do   this  I   am  indebted 
to  Mr.  Edward  S.  Schmid,  the  veteran  bird 
^fancier   of   Washington,   D.    C.     There   are 
but  two  exceptions  to  this  statement,   one 
being  the  picture  presented  of  Mearns'  quail, 
which   is   reproduced  from   a  photograph   I 
made  of  this  species  of  a  specimen  belonging 
»  the  United  States  National  Museum — a 
favor  for  which  I  must  thank  the  late  Dr. 
r.  Brown  Goode.     The  second  exception  is 
seen  in  the  beautiful  picture,  illustrating  the 
."fjTCsent  Part,  of  a  male  bob-white,  taken  in 
the  act  of  incubating.     This  is  reproduced 
|Hn  a  photograph  from  life,  made  some  time 
.during  the  middle  of  August,  1901,  by  Mr. 
George    E.    Moulthrope,    of    Bristol,    Con- 
$aecticut,  where  this  interesting  case  occurred. 
Our   bob-whites   are   not   true   quails,   the 
latter   birds    being   well    exemplified   in    the 
quail   of   Europe, — a   species   I   shall   touch 
upon,  and  present  figures  of  from  life,  further 
on  in  the  present  series  of  articles.    Nor  are 
ir  bob-whites  true  partridges,  as  the  latter 
belong    to    the   genus   Perdix,    an    excellent 
example  of   which  is   seen  in  the   common 
j  gray  partridge  of  Europe  (Perdix  cinerea). 


"Colin"  is  also  a  name  applied  to  our  bob- 
whites,  and  sometimes  even  made  to  include 
the  western  quails,  as  the  "mountain"  and 
"valley"  species.  English  ornithologists  are 
especially  given  to  the  use  of  this  term  with 
respect  to  our  bob-whites,  while  we  very 
rarely  hear  it  used  in  this  country.  Further 
on  we  shall  see  that  all  of  our  bob-whites  are 
contained  in  the  genus  Colinus — hence  'colin.' 
The  origin  of  this  word  is  interesting,  for  we 
find  it  to  be  derived  from  the  old  French 
Colin,  and  hence  the  surname  Collins  in 
English  (Colas  is  the  diminutive  of  Nicolas). 

Bob-whites  are  known  as  "partridges" 
throughout  the  Southern  States;  they  are 
called  "quails"  in  the  Middle  Atlantic  States 
and  in  New  England,  or  in  such  districts 
where  the  ruffed  grouse  is  called  a  partridge, 
— the  latter  being  known  as  a  pheasant  in 
the  south.  This  is  all  well  enough  so  long  as 
the  fact  is  understood  that  we  have  no  true 
partridges  in  the  United  States;  that  the 
habitats  of  the  true  quails  are  in  the  Old 
World;  that  the  birds  we  call  pheasants  in 
the  East  are  grouse,  and  that  the  pheasants 
(Phasianidce)  are  Asiatic  forms,  though  the 
family  includes  the  pea-fowls,  the  wild  and 
domestic  fowls  or  chickens,  the  peacock  and 
their  various  allies. 

All  of  our  game  birds  of  these  groups  are 
arrayed  in  the  Supersuborder  (XV)  GALLI- 
FORMES  and  belong  in  the  suborder  (XXIV) 
Gallince;  in  this  suborder  we  have  the  family 
(V)  Odontophorida,  created  to  contain  all  of 
our  bob-whites  and  quails.  This  classifica- 
tion takes  into  consideration  the  structure 
or  morphology  of  these  birds  rather  than  a 
grouping  of  them  according  to  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis. 

Birds  of  this  family  represent  and  have 
been  arrayed  in  five  well-marked  and  distinct 
genera;  these  have  been  named  Colinus, 
Oreortyx,  Callipepla,  Lophortyx,  and  Crytonyx, 
and  I  shall  take  them  up  in  this  sequence  in 
the  remaining  parts  of  the  present  series  of 


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24* 


a  slight  projection  of  rock  just  above  the 
water,  and  took  careful  aim  at  it  with  one 
of  my  lower  extremities.  I  made  a  good 
shot,  so  that  while  I  felt,  and  can  feel  today 
all  of  the  symptoms  of  that  bath,  I  did  not 
get  it.  While  I  was  mentally  drying  off,  I 
clambered  laboriously  to  the  top  of  the 
boulder  to  see  if  anybody  was  looking,  and 
my  conscience  was  eased  very  considerably 
by  finding  that  I  had  been  unobserved.  The 
rock  suffered  no  ill  effects  whatever  from 
my  slide. 

John  was  not  quite  so  fortunate.  He 
attempted  to  walk  a  spruce  pole  which  had 
been  placed  across  one  of  the  falls,  and  fell 
in  part  way.  These  experiences,  however, 
only  increased  our  already  tremendous  appe- 
tites, so  that  when  we  arrived  at  the  dinner 
table  which  was  set  and  surrounded  by  all 
of  the  grandeur  that  a  wild  and  uninhabited 
country  can  give,  we  made  away  with  enough 
food  for  six  ordinary  men.  Our  good  guide 
Tuffy  had  to  fry  more  of  the  speckled  beauties 
or  go  hungry.  Often  times  I  marvel  at  the 
appetite  of  a  man  who  has  the  hunger  of  the 
tired  fisherman,  and  wish  that  I  could  carry 
back  with  me  to  civilization  the  keen  delight 
with  which  I  attack  almost  any  food  in 
such  a  place. 

After  dinner  we  did  not  do  much  fishing. 
We  did  not  come  to  kill  more  than  we  could 
use,  but  only  to  enjoy  ourselves.  We  smoked 


our  pipes,  told  a  few  stories,  and  later  in  the 
afternoon  started  back  toward  the  boat.  I 
remember  that  as  we  left  the  mouth  of  the 
river  we  gave  chase  to  a  fish-duck  and  her 
brood  of  young.  It  is  marvelous  with  what 
speed  these  little  ducks  can  go  through  the 
water,  and  row  as  we  might,  we  could  not 
catch  them.  I  remember  in  regard  to  those 
stories,  that  Mr.  Booth  said  the  trout  bit  so 
rapidly  and  so  savagely  at  the  lower  pool 
that  he  could  scarcely  bait  his  hook  fast 
enough  to  satisfy  the  fish;  and  at  one  time, 
in  order  to  keep  from  being  severely  bitten 
himself,  he  said  he  had  to  turn  his  back  to 
the  pool  while  baiting  his  hook;  but,  of 
course,  Mr.  Booth  has  some  reputation  as 
a  story  teller. 

Mr.  Booth  reached  the  yacht  before  we 
did,  and  had  his  creel  deposited  on  the  back 
deck.  As  we  stood  in  silent  wonder  looking 
into  that  famous  creel,  I  could  not  help  but 
feel  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  that 
Mr.  Booth's  nick-name  was  well  taken.  I 
felt  as  though  the  Booth  Fishery  Company 
was  actually  present. 

After  dinner  that  evening  the  band  played 
It  was  the  band's  final  appearance.  The 
band-master  felt  that  it  was  to  the  best 
physical  interests  of  the  band  that  they 
should  make  no  more  appearances,  as  the 
captain  had  had  strict  orders  to  allow  no 
more  unnecessary  noise  on  the  boat. 


(TO  BE  CONTINUED) 


"Many  the  Pleasures." 

By  ROBERT  PAGE  LINCOLN 

Many  the  pleasures  I  this  day  have  known! 

The  rising  sun — the  grass  so  whispering 

Thought  that  around  my  body  seemed  to  cling; 
A  tree,  a  bird,  a  flower  fully  blown! 
Many  the  pleasures  have  to  me  been  shown: 

Late  afternoon  resting  upon  its  wing; 

The  mild  deceiving  tenderness  of  spring — 
A  south-bound  duck,  that,  seen  above,  is  flown. 
And  homeward  then  in  the  engloomed  eve, 

Musing  upon  old  friendly  faces — joy 

Full  welcome  to  me — a  returned  boy — 
Back  from  the  places  where  they  sob  and  grieve! 
Who  shall  not  happy  be  who  turns  this  way: 

Approaches  God  so  close  Life  melts  away! 


, 


Fig.  1.— TEXAS  BOB-WHITE.     MALE 


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articles.  In  doing  so  I  will  briefly  describe 
each  species  and  subspecies,  giving  its  life- 
history,  the  origin  of  its  name,  its  range,  and 
how  each  may  be  distinguished  from  any  of 
its  relatives,  or,  in  other  words,  the  key  to 
its  identification. 

Bob-whites  and  quails  are  not  difficult  to 
distinguish  from  the  grouse  or  other  birds 
belonging  to  the  Tetraonida,  for  the  first  not 
only  possess  naked  feet,  but  the  nasal  fossa 
are  likewise  devoid  of  feathers.  The  Texas 
bob-white,  here  shown  in  Figure  1,  exhibits 
this  nakedness  of  the  feet  (including  the 
tarsi)  and  nostrils  very  well.  When  we  come, 
however,  to  draw  hard  and  fast  lines  between 
our  bob-white  and  quails  and  the  pheasant- 
group  (Phasianida) ,  it  is  by  no  means  such 
an  easy  matter.  Without  going  into  the 
scientific  particulars  involving  this  point — 
for  it  would  avail  us  nothing  here — I  may  say 
that  there  are  not  a  few  birds  in  various  parts 
of  the  world,  as  in  India,  Ceylon,  Africa, 
China,  Formosa,  and  other  countries,  which 
present  characters  (both  internal  and  external) 
that  render  it  a  very  puzzling  matter  for  the 
ornithologist  to  accurately  determine  to 
which  family — that  is  the  Odontophoridce  or 
the  PhasianidcE — they  belong.  However,  I 
have  already  shown  how  to  distinguish  the 
former  from  our  grouse  (Tetraonidai) ,  and 
there  can  certainly  be  no  danger,  in  so  far  as 
the  readers  of  this  article  are  concerned,  of 
mistaking  any  of  our  bob-whites  or  quails 
for  a  guinea-fowl,  much  less  for  a  wild 
turkey  or  peacock,  all  of  which  latter  are 
phasianine  birds  and  not  perdicine  species. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  there  is  an 
enormous  literature  extant  on  game  birds 
as  a  whole,  and  for  a  goodly  share  of  this  our 
bob-whites  and  quails  come  in.  They  have 
been  written  and  talked  about  ever  since  the 
first  discovery  of  America,  but  it  has  only 
been  within  comparatively  recent  time  that 
we  have  come  to  know  these  birds  intimately. 

Any  intelligent  sportsman  is  more  or  less 
familiar  with  the  habits  of  this  assemblage 
of  birds  that  are  found  where  he  habitually 
hunts.  There  is,  however,  one  interesting 
habit  that  is  exemplified  on  the  part  of  the 
male  bob-white,  and  maybe  on  the  part  of 
other  species;  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  the 
male  will,  sometimes,  for  one  reason  or  another 
take  upon  himself  the  duty  of  incubation. 
An  example  of  this  is  well  shown  in  Figure  2 
of  this  Part.  Should  hatching  take  place 
while  the  eggs  are  being  covered  by  the  male, 
it  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  he 
would  behave.  I  believe  that  he  would  lead 
off  the  chicks  just  like  the  hen  bird,  and 
remain  near  the  nest  until  her  return,  which, 
under  ordinary  circumstances — and  she  were 


able  and  living — would  not  be  for  any  great 
length  of  time. 

Among  the  game  birds  of  the  world  there 
are  not  a  few  instances  where  the  male  of 
the  species  assists  in  incubation.  In  the 
case  of  our  bob-whites,  Wilson,  the  ornith- 
ologist, did  not  appear  to  know,  in  so  far 
as  we  can  judge  from  his  published  writings, 
that  the  male  quail  assisted  in  the  matter  of 
incubation.  Audubon  knew  about  it,  and 
says  in  his  "great  work"  that  "The  female 
prepares  a  nest  composed  of  grasses,  arranged 
in  a  circular  form,  leaving  an  entrance  not 
unlike  that  of  a  common  oven.  It  is  placed 
at  the  foot  of  a  tuft  of  rank  grass  (see  Fig.  2) 
or  some  closed  stalks  of  corn,  and  is  partly 
sunk  in  the  ground.  The  eggs  are  from  ten 
to  eighteen,  rather  sharp  at  the  smaller  end, 
and  of  a  pure  white.  The  male  at  times 
assists  in  hatching  them."  This  very  indiffer- 
ent description  will  probably  stand  pretty 
well  for  one  case  in  several  hundred,  and 
it  would  appear  that  Audubon  met  with 
but  few  nests  of  this  species  in  his  rambles. 
He  reserved  most  of  the  space  that  he 
devoted  to  the  life-history  of  this  famous 
little  game  bird,  to  describe  the  capture  of  it 
by  driving  bevies  of  them  into  nets.  This 
practice  seemed  to  amuse  him  very  much 
indeed,  as  it  might  the  average  market-man 
today,  were  "quails"  plenty  enough  for  them 
to  resort  to  it. 

This  is  what  Audubon  says  on  this  point 
when  endeavoring  to  describe  the  note  of 
the  bob-white:  "A  fancied  similarity  to  the 
words  'bob-white'  renders  this  call  familiar 
to  the  sportsman  and  farmer;  but  these  notes 
are  always  preceded  by  another,  easily 
heard  at  a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  yards. 
The  three  together  resemble  the  words  'Ah, 
Bob  White.'  The  first  note  is  a  kind  of 
asperation,  and  the  last  is  very  loud  and  clear. 
This  whistle  is  seldom  heard  after  the  breed- 
ing season,  during  which  an  imitation  of 
the  peculiar  note  of  the  female  will  make  the 
male  fly  toward  the  sportsman  who  may  then 
easily  shoot  it." 

This  is  interesting,  apart  from  any  other 
consideration;  for  it  gives  us  in  his  own  words 
the  fact  that  he,  Audubon,  was  not  above 
shooting  quails  during  the  breeding  season. 
But  in  a  way  he  informs  sportsmen  (?)  that 
it  can  be  done  and  how  it  can  be  done.  In 
this  connection  I  may  say  that,  in  a  previous 
article  in  Outer's,  I  pointed  out  that  Audubon 
for  the  sake  of  amusement,  used  to  go  out  at 
night  with  some  negroes  and  catch  dozens  of 
prairie  chickens  or  pinnated  grouse  in  a  fish 
seine,  apparently  only  for  such  "sport"  as 
he  found  in  the  practice,  and  he  was  only 
deterred  in  such  an  outrageous  procedure 
by  the  merriment  of  the  negroes  (!),  or  as  he 


Fig.  2.— MALE  BOB-WHITE  (C.  V.  virginianus)  INCUBATING 


puts  it — after  thus  capturing  more  birds 
than  ten  families  could  use — "but  now  we 
gave  up  the  sport  on  account  of  the  loud 
bursts  of  laughter  from  the  negroes,  who 
could  no  longer  refrain."  (Vol.  V.,  p.  98). 
American  sportsmen  need  not  be  surprised 
at  this  narrative;  for  it  was  Audubon  who 
was  so  fond  of  shooting  scores  of  the  beautiful 
white  egret  (the  plume-hunters'  victim)  during 
the  breeding  season,  when  they  had  both 
eggs  and  young,  so  he  could  gratify  the  de- 
mands of  the  ladies  of  Charleston  for  "many 
of  their  primary  feathers  for  the  purpose  of 
making  fans."  (Vol.  VI.,  p  135). 

Quails  of  the  genus  Callipepla  are  very 
different  looking  birds  as  compared  with  any 
of  the  bob-whites, — a  fact  that  can  very 
readily  be  appreciated  by  comparing  Figures 
1  and  3  of  the  present  Part.  Indeed,  these 
scaled  quails,  as  they  are  called,  look  more 
like  some  little  species  of  grouse  than  they 
do  like  a  bob-white.  Notice  in  my  photo- 
graph the  beautiful  crest  the  bird  has,  and 
the  fine  emarginations  of  the  feathers  of  the 
underparts,  causing  them  to  resemble  scales 
and  suggesting  the  name  for  the  members 
of  this  genus.  These  scaled  quails  are  birds 
that  habitually  live  in  the  desert  regions 
of  the  West,  and  later  on  I  will  give  the 
life  histories  of  the  two  subspecies  found 
in  certain  localities  of  the  southwestern 


part  of  the  country,  where  they  are  well 
known  to  the  sportsmen  of  those  parts  where 
they  occur. 

"Valley  quails"  are  of  the  genus  Lophortyx, 
and  they  stand  among  the  most  beautiful 
of  the  smaller  game  birds  of  the  Pacific 
region,  where  they  are  still  to  be  found  in 
many  localities.  Unfortunately,  they  are 
now  rapidly  being  exterminated,  and,  unless 
they  are  fully  protected  for  a  series  of  years, 
they  will  entirely  disappear.  Think  of  one 
of  the  most  elegant  game  birds  in  the  world 
actually  being  wiped  off  the  earth  entirely 
through  man's  agency;  and  when  once  gone, 
it  can  never  be  restored  again.  Further 
on  I  shall  present  reproductions  of  photo- 
graphs of  some  superb  specimens  of  this  genus 
from  life,  together  with  a  full  account  of  the 
members  of  the  genus.  This  also  applies  to 
the  mountain  and  plumed  quails  of  the  genus 
Oreortyx,  of  which,  as  wejinow,  there  are  some 
beautiful  varieties  or  subspecies  in  western 
Oregon  and  the  Californias. 

Lastly,  I  shall  give  a  brief  history  of  those 
gorgeous  little  quails  of  the  genus  Cyrtonyx, 
found  in  certain  parts  of  Texas,  New  Mexico 
and  adjacent  regions.  In  my  own  opinion, 
these  stand  among  the  most  beautiful  of 
our  quails,  yet  this  fact  is  not  often  men- 
tioned, and  apparently  for  the  sole  reason 


Fig.  3.— SCALED  QUAIL  OF  WESTERN  TEXAS.     MALE 


that  they  are  so  lame  and  afford  the  sportsman 
but  little  sport  in  their  hunting. 

Most,  if  not  all,  of  these  various  kinds  of 
quails  are  easily  raised  in  confinement;  if 
properly  cared  for  and  placed  under  suitable 
conditions,  they  may  be  raised  in  large 


numbers.  This  is  now  being  done  with  our 
eastern  bob-whites  in  many  places,  and  the 
results  are  most  gratifying.  Such  a  culture 
should  be  taken  up  and  encouraged  with 
respect  to  the  several  western  forms,  and 
that  before  they  are  all  exterminated. 


The  Meadow  Lark. 


By  WILL  C.  PARSONS 

Almost  deserted,  Nature's  choir,  but  one, 
His  breast  aglow  like  summer's  setting  sun, 
Pipes  from  a  frozen  clod  in  snow-patched  field. 
His  notes  flash  out  like  rays  from  polished  shield. 
To  cutting  Norther's  blade,  he  scorns  to  yield. 

"Cheery  'o  cheer. 

Cheery  every  one! 

Though  he,  eternal  summer  night  command, 
He  stays  behind:  defies  King  Winter's  hand; 
And  gladdens  saddest  heart  with  sweetest  note 
That  ever  burst  from  songster's  silvery  throat — 
A  benediction  in  his  mottled  coat! 

"Cheery  'o  cheer, 
Cheery  every  one! 


American  Bob-White  aad  Quails 

By  DR.   R.  W.  SHUFELDT,  C  M.  Z.  S.    ' 

PARTII.-THE  BOB- WHITES 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS    FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


N  Part  1  of  the  present  series  I 
have  already  presented  some  in- 
teresting facts  in  regard  to  our 
Bob-whites,  while  in  the  present 
Part  it  is  my  intention  to  give  a 
more  or  less  complete  history  of 
these  birds. 

We  have,  in  the  first  place,  two  species  of 
Bob-whites  in  the  United  States  avifauna,  the 
first  being  the  Bob-white,  and  the  second  the 
Masked  Bob-white.  Scientifically  the  Bob- 
white  is  everywhere  known  as  Colinus  vir- 
ginianus  (of  Virginia),  its  specific  name  hav- 
ing been  bestowed  upon  it  by  Linnaeus,  who, 
however,  placed  the  group  in  the  genus  Tetrao, 
under  which  name  the  old-time  ornithologists 
arrayed  all  birds  that  were  at  all  grouse-like. 
This  Bob-white  ranges  all  over  Eastern 
North  America,  from  southern  Maine,  west- 
ward through  South  Dakota,  and  southward 
to  include  Florida.  It  is  also  found  in  the 
Gulf  States  to  include  all  suitable  localities 
through  Texas,  and,  beyond  our  borders,  in 
eastern  Mexico.  In  this  very  extensive  range, 
the  birds,  in  divers  areas,  have  corr>e  to  assume 
fixed,  and  at  the  same  time  different  plumage 
characters.  This  has  given  rise  to  three  very 
distinct  subspecies  of  Colinus  virginianus—that 
is,  distinct  when  selected  from  their  "range 
centers ;"  for  the  birds,  in  any  particular  case, 
shade  almost  imperceptibly  into  the  subspecies 
of  the  next  contiguous  range.  Then  there  are 
four  or  five  species  found  in  Mexico  and 
Yucatan,  all  being  quite  distinct;  but  with 
these  we  have  nothing  to  do  here.  Further 
on  I  will  discuss  our  subspecific  forms  and 
their  ranges ;  but  let  us  first  turn  our  attention 
to  the  characters  as  a  whole  as  found  in  the 
genus. 

We  will  note  in  Colinus,  then,  that  the  feath- 
ers of  the  crown  are  somewhat  lengthened, 
and,  while  erectile,  do  not  form  a  true  crest. 
In  the  matter  of  general  plumage,  it  is  much, 
variegated,  being  of  a  reddish  chestnut  brown 
with  black  and  white  markings.  There  are 
twelve  tail-feathers,  and.  when  stretched  put, 
the- feet  reach  beyond nheni.  They  lay.  in  'a 
nest  on  the  ground,  from  twelve  to  eighteen 


white,  pyriform  eggs,  and  the  downy  little 
chicks  are  very  pretty  and  extremely  active 
when  first  hatched. 

Colinus  virginianus  virginianus  is  the  type 
subspecies  of  the  genus,  and  its  range  is  now 
rapidly  extending  Westward,  to  such  an  extent, 
indeed,  that  Coues,  in  the  fifth  edition  of  his 
"Key,"  says  that  its  range  is  "Eastern 
United  States,  North  to  Maine,  Ontario,  and 
Minnesota.  West  to  high  central  plains  in 
South  Dakota,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, Oklahoma,  and  eastern  Texas,  and  all 
the  while  steadily  extending  in  that  direction 
with  the  settlements  and  railroads;  it  has 
already  got  beyond  the  limits  assigned  in  the 
Key  in  1884,  and  has  been  introduced  and 
become  acclimated  in  various  parts  of  Colo- 
rado, New  Mexico,  Utah,  Idaho,  California. 
Oregon  and  Washington.  I  shot  it  at  Fort 
Randall,  S.  D.,  in  1872-73."  Both  in  its  normal 
habitat  and  wherever  introduced  it  becomes 
resident,  breeding  throughout  the  range. 

In  the  adult  male  the  forehead,  line  over 
each  eye,  and  throat  are  pure  white  with  a 
bordering  of  black;  crown,  neck  and  breast, 
reddish-brown ;  under-parts  light  tan  or  tawny- 
whittish,  all  the  feathers  being  marked  with 
black  in  the  form  of  double  crescentic  bars; 
under  tail ^  coverts,  reddish;  broad,  reddish- 
brown  stripes  on  sides ;  dorsum  variegated 
with  black,  stone  gray,  deep  chestnut  and 
buffy,  which  last  forms  a  bar  on  either  wing. 

This  coloration  of  the  plumage  is  much 
subdued  in  the  female;  the  black  markings  are 
less  pronounced,  and,  what  is  to  be  noticed 
almost  at  once  by  any  observer  is, 'that  the 
throat  is  of  a  buffy  shade  instead  of  white  as 
in  the  male. 

A  male  Bob-white  has  a  length  of  about  ten 
inches  to  ten  and  a  half,  the  "female  being 
Jibout^half  an  inch  shorter. 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  find  ab- 
normally plumaged  birds  of  this  species  among 
the  hundreds  of  scores  shot  in  this  country 
every  year.  We  must  meet  with  albinoes-, 
some  melanotic  ones,  and  others  e^hibitint: 
other  phases  of  abnormal  pluma'ge.  Sports- 
men should  preserve  such  specimens,  and, 


356 


THE    SWORD    FISHERMEN'S    SKIFF    OFF    CAM  I'    TINCHOT, 
355 


FIG.   4.     TEXAS  BOB-WHITE.     MALE.     TWO-THIRDS  NATURAL  SIZE. 


while  they  have  no  scientific  status  whatever, 
they  are,  nevertheless,  of  value  and  most 
assuredly  interesting. 

In  the  lower  two-thirds  of  the  peninsula  of 
Florida  we  meet  with  the  first  subspecies  of 
Bob-white,  which  is  the  Florida  Bob-white 
(C.  v.  fioridanus).  This  variety  is  not  found 
anywhere  else  in  this  country,  though  it  ap- 
proaches the  Cuban  quail  in  appearance 
(C.  cubanensis).  It  is  a  smaller  and  much 
darker  bird  than  the  one  just  described,  the 
male  being  about  the  size  of  the  female  of 
C.  v.  virgtnianus;  moreover,  in  it  the  bill  is 
jet  black  and  heavier,  and  the  black  markings 
more  conspicuous  by  being  broader.  It*  habits 
are  about  the  same. 

When  on  the  ground  our  Bob -whites  have 
a  very  different  appearance  from  some  of  the 
western  quails,  for  example  such  as  any  of  the 
scaled  quails.  This  will  at  once  be  appre- 
ciated by  comparing  the  birds  figured  in  figs. 
4  and  S. 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  these  scaled 
partridges  or  quails  always  '  remind  me  ;df 
some  small  form  of  grouse,* and  to  this  i!x- 


specimen  here  shown  in  fig.  5  forms  no  excep- 
tion. 

Our  last  subspecies  of  Bob-white  is  the 
Texas  subspecies  (C.  v.  tcxanus)  of  which  it 
is  said  that  it  ranges  through  southeastern 
New  Mexico  to  southern  Texas,  and  from 
these  regions  southward  through  certain  parts 
of  old  Mexico.  This  Texas  Bob-white  is  a 
species  about  the  size  of  the  Florida  subspecies 
(Fig.  4),  and,  instead  of  being  a  darker  form 
than  the  Common  Bob-white,  it  is  a  much 
paler  one.  Indeed,  the  prevailing  shade  is 
gray  rather  than  a  brown,  and  there  is  a  con- 
siderable shading  of  tan  or  tawny  in  the 
plumage  of  its  upper  parts.  This  subspecies 
f  have  had  in  confinement  for  several  days 
at  a  time,  during  which  period  I  made  a  num- 
ber of  negatives  of  it.  The  one  shown  in 
Fig.  4,  selected  from  the  lot,  makes  the  bird 
appear  to  be  much  darker  than  it  really  is. 
so  much  so  that  it  would  stand  pretty  well 
for  a  specimen  of  the  Florida  Bob-white.  This 
bird1,  however,  was  taken  in  central  Texas 
ulung  with  many  others,  and  shipped  to  Mr. 
Schmid  by  one  of  his  regular  collectors. 
It  has  the  same  habits  as  our  quail  of  the 


357 


FIG.   5.      CHESTNUT-BELLIED  SEALED   QUAIL    (CALLll'EPLA.   SQUAMATA   CASTASTANOGAS- 
TRI8).     MALE.     SHOWS  THE  APPEARANCE  OF  THE  BIRD  ON  THE  GROUND. 


eastern  States,  and  its  nest  and  eggs  differ 
in  no  respect  whatever  from  those  of  that 
bird.  In  fact,  as  we  come  northward  and 
eastward,  it  gradually  shades  into  the  stock 
species. — that  is,  into  Colinus  v.  vvrginianus; 
and,  as  we  go  south  into  Mexico,  it  is  said 
to  gradually  approach  CoHnus  graysoni  in 
form  and  plumage. 

In  November,  1913,  when  walking  through 
the  woods  and  fields  with  my  wife  near  Somer- 
set, District  of  Columbia,  and  without  any 
dog,  I  put  up  three  fine  bevies  of  quails,  or 
partridges  as  they  are  known  in  that  locality. 
There  were  some  thirty  in  the  first  bevy,  and 
from  a  dozen  to  fifteen  in  the  other  two, 
making  fully  sixty  birds  altogether. 

The  largest  flock  of  these  birds  I  ever  saw 
was  flushed  by  a  train  of  cars  on  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  I  saw  them  from  one 
of  the  car  windows.  It  was  sometime  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventies,  and  I  was 
traveling  westward  through  Nebraska.  The 
train  had  stopped  "to  water"  at  one  of  the 
big  tanks  close  to  the  rails.  No  building  or 
people  were  within  miles  and  the  birds  had 
collected  in  the  shadow  of  the  tank,  from  off 
the  surrounding  prairies  to  enjoy  the  cool 
shade,  and  to  drink  the  water  which  had 
dripped  from  the  tank.  As  the  train  ap- 
poached,  the  entire  flock  took  wing  together, 
and  it  was  truly  a  most  remarkable  sight,  for 
there  must  have  been  at  least  over  a  thousand 
birds  in  the  bunch ! 

Wilson's  account  of  the  Bob-white  is  a  most 


interesting  one,  and  especially  so  for  the 
reason  that  the  species  was  so  plentiful  during 
the  time  he  wrote.  He  records  several  in- 
stances where  the  clutch  of  eggs  of  a  quail 
was  hatched  out  by  the  common  hen;  and, 
what  was  still  more  remarkable,  where  quails 
would  sit  on  hen's  eggs,  hatch  them  out,  and 
rear  the  brood  of  chickens.  In  one  case  of  this 
kind,  the  quail  led  the  brood  into  the  woods, 
and  the  chickens  soon  acquired  the  habits  of 
young  quails. 

In  commenting  upon  this,  Wilson  says :  "A 
friend  of  mine,  who  himself  made  the  ex- 
periment, informs  me,  that,  of  several  hen's 
eggs  which  he  substituted  in  place  of  those 
of  the  Partridge,  she  brought  out  the  whole; 
and  that,  for  several  weeks,  he  occasionally 
surprised  her  in  various  partg  of  the  planta- 
tion with  a  brood  of  chickens ;  on  which 
occasions  she  exhibited  all  that  distrustful 
alarm,  and  practiced  her  usual  manoeuvres  for 
their  preservation.  Even  after  they  were  con- 
siderably grown,  and  larger  than  the  Partridge 
herself,  she  continued  to  lead  them  about; 
but,  though  their  notes  or  calls  were  those 
of  common  chickens,  their  manners  had  all 
the  shyness,  timidity,  and  alarm  of  young 
Partridges ;  running  with  great  rapidity,  and 
squatting  in  the  grass  exactly  in  the  manner 
of  the  Partridge.  Soon  after  this  they  dis- 
appeared, having  probably  been  destroyed  by 
dogs,  by  the  gun,  or  by  birds  of  prey.  Whether 
the  domestic  fowl  might  not  by  this  method  be 
very  soon  brought  back  to  its  original  savage 


FIG.  6.     MASKED  BOB-WHITE   (COLINUS  RIDQWAYI).     MALE,  FEMALE  AND  YOUNG  MALE. 
BY    THE   AUTHOR    AFTER    ALLEN'S    COLORED    PLATE. 

359 


360 


The  Outer's  Book 


state,  and  thereby  supply  another  additional 
subject  for  the  amusement  of  the  sportsman, 
will  scarcely  admit  of  a  doubt." 

This  is  somewhat  of  a  hard  story  for  me 
to  believe,  and  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think 
that  Wilson's  "friend"  was  putting  one  up 
on  him. 

Neither  Audubon  nor  Wilson  knew  of  the 
Quail  next  to  be  noticed,  which  is  the  remain- 
ing species  to  be  described  in  our  list  of 
United  States  Bob-whites.  This  is  the  beauti- 
ful masked  Bob-white,  named  by  Brewster 
Colinus  ridgwayi  in  honor  of  Professor  Robert 
Ridgway,  our  most  distinguished  living  de- 
scriber  of  the  birds  of  this  country.  There  is 
a  good  account  of  this  bird  in  Allen's  paper 
on  the  species  (Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist., 
July,  1886,  pi.  23 );  it  was  the  colored  Plate 
in  this  paper  which  I  selected  to  copy  to 
obtain  my  illustration  for  the  present  Part 
(see  Fig.  6). 

This  elegant  quail  formerly  ranged  from 
the  middle  part  of  the  southern  border  of 
Arizona,  southward  to  the  central  region  of 
southern  Sonora.  From  all  accounts,  how- 
ever, I  fear  that  it  has  been  entirely  exter- 
minated within  the  boundaries  of  the  'United 
States,  which  is  a  great  pity,  for  it  is  even 
a  handsomer  bird  than  our  famous  Bob-white 
of  the  middle  and  eastern  sections  of  the 
country.  This  masked  Bob-white  is  closely 
related  to  Grayson's  Quail  (C.  graysoni)  of 
Mexico,  and  when  first  introduced  into  our 
Check  Lists,  was  mistaken  for  it,  a  mistake 
which  has  since  been  corrected. 

In  addition  to  the  name  I  have  given  for  it, 
it  is  likewise  known  as  Ridgway's  Colin,  Ari- 
zona Bob-white,  and  the  Hooded  Quail.  Coues 


says  that  the  female  of  this  species  so  closely 
resembles  that  sex  of  C.  v.  texanus  "as  not  to 
be  readily  distinguished."  In  it  the  irides 
are  brown,  the  bill  black,  and  the  feet  horn- 
color.  Further,  it  is  easily  distinguished  from 
all  others  of  our  Bob-whites  by  the  black  of 
the  front  and  sides  of  the  head  and  neck, 
and,  in  some  individuals,  by  the  narrow  white 
line  over  the  eye  (Fig.  6).  Beneath,  the  parts 
are  of  a  chestnut  or  cinnamon  color,  which 
is  unspotted  and  varies  in  shade,  reminding 
one  of  the  breast  of  our  common  eastern 
Robin.  White  spots,  however,  occur  on  the 
flanks,  these  spots  generally  being  on  the  tips 
of  the  feathers,  and  each  bordered  anteriorly 
by  a  bar  of  black.  The  top  and  back  of  the 
head,  to  include  the  nape,  is  light  brown 
mixed  with  black  and  white,  the  last  being 
tinged  with  yellow.  The  back  of  the  neck 
and  between  the  shoulders,  reddish-brown 
shaded  with  gray;  upper  parts  principally 
black,  variegated  with  light  brown  and  soiled 
white.  The  tail  is  slate  gray  on  its  upper  side, 
where  it  is  dotted  with  whitish  and  wavy  lines 
of  the  same  shade;  beneath,  the  markings  are 
somewhat  the  same  but  fainter.  Wing-coverts, 
reddish,  the  feathers  being  barred  with  black 
and  bordered  with  whitish.  Primaries,  dusky 
and  emarginated  internally  with  whitish. 

This  much  of  a  description  would  indicate 
a  Bob-white,  in  so  far  as  the  male  bird  is  con- 
cerned, that  could  in  no  way  be  mistaken  for 
any  other  species  than  the  Arizona  Masked 
one.  Should  any  one  hunting  in  the  southern 
part  of  Arizona  meet  with  such  a  bird,  it 
should  certainly  be  reported,  and  if  shot,  it 
should,  with  still  greater  certainty,  be  pre- 
served and  scientifically  labeled. 


What's  The  Use? 

By   E.   L.   FARLEY 

I  wish  I  were  a  boy  again  strolling  down  the  pasture  lane  with  Rover  barkin' 
at  our  cow,  and  wonderin'  when  and  where  and  how  I'd  get  a  line  to  go  a  fishin'. 
But  what's  the  use  of  longin' — wishin'? 

I  wish  I  were  a  boy  today  so  I  could  ride  on  loads  of  hay  and  with  it  stickin' 
on  my  cheek  slip  off  to  the  meadow  creek  and  take  a  plunge — and  fishin'. 
But  what's  the  use  of  longin' — wishin'? 

I  wish  I  were  a  boy  once  more  and  dig  around  the  old  barn  door  while  ducks 
and  geese  a  racket  kept  that  had  no  equal  except  myself  when  startin'  off  a  fishin'. 
But  what's  the  use  of  longin' — wishin'? 


Commercial  strife  has  made  me  weary  and  manhood's  days  seem  long  and 
dreary  compared  with  those  when  but  a  boy  when  every  one  was  filled  with  joy  with 
naught  but  school — and  then  a  fishin'. 

But  what's  the  use  of  longin' — wishin'? 


PIG.  7.     PLUMED  QUAIL.      (0.  P.  PLUMIFERA).      MALE. 

REDUCED 


FROM  LIFE  BY  THE  AUTHOR  AND 


American  Bob-White  and  Quails 

By  DR.   R.  W.  SHUFELDT,  C.  M.   Z.  S. 

PART  III.-MOUNTAIN  QUAILS  AND  OTHER  SPECIES 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS    FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


AVING  completed  my  account 
of  the  Bob-whites  in  Parts  I 
and  II  of  the  present  series  of 
articles,  I  have  next  to  intro- 
duce a  genus  of  birds,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  stand1  among  the 
handsomest  of  the  smaller  game  fowls  any- 
where in  the  world.  These  are  the  Mountain 
or  Plumed  Quails  of  the  Pacific  region  of 
the  United  States,  the  several  forms  repre- 
senting them  being  included  in  the  genus 
Oreortyx,  of  which  there  is  but  one  species 
(O.  picta)  including  the  three  known  sub- 
species. All  of  these  will  be  described  in 
the  present  Part,  and  in  Fig.  7  we  have  a 
picture  from  life  of  one  of  them,  which  gives 
an  excellent  idea  of  the  representatives  of 
this  group  (O.  picta  plumifera). 

Oreortyx  means  a  mountain  quail,  but  it  is 
a  badly  constructed  word,  as  it  not  only  leaves 
the  gender  in  doubt,  but  oros,  a  mountain,  is 


from  the  Greek,  while  ortyx  is  the  Latin  for 
a  quail — the  first  being  masculine  and  the  lat- 
ter feminine.  However,  the  quails  do  not  seem 
to  mind  it,  being  more  concerned  about  the 
vicious  guns  and  traps  that  are  now  rapidly 
wiping  their  beautiful  race  completely  off  the 
map. 

The  type  subspecies  of  this  genus  is  the 
Mountain  Quail  (O.  p.  picta},  the  subspe- 
cific  name  meaning  painted  or  pictured 
(Latin).  It  is  said  to  occur,  in  suitable  locali- 
ties, throughout  the  "Humid  Transition  Zone 
strip  of  the  Pacific  coast  from  southwestern 
Washington  south  to  Monterey  County,  Cali- 
fornia." It  also  occurs  on  Vancouver  Island 
as  an  introduced  species. 

We  have  next  the  subspecies  known  as  the 
Plumed  Quail  (O.  p.  plumifera)  (from  the 
Latin  pluma,  a  plume,  and  fero,  to  bear),  so 
called  on  account  of  its  elegant  head  plume. 
Further  on  I  shall  give  the  description  of 


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The  Outer's  Book 


these   birds,   but    1   desire   first   to  name   them 
and  to  give  the  localities  where  they  occur. 

This  subspecies,  in  so  far  as  its  range  is 
concerned,  was  referred  to  by  Coues,  in  the 
last  edition  of  his  "Key,"  as  being  "the  pre- 
vailing form  on  both  sides  of  the  Cascade 
range  in  Oregon,  the  Sierra  Nevadas  in  Cali- 
fornia, and-  even  the  Coast  Range  in  the  latter 
State  from  about  latitude  34  degrees  to  Lower 
California;  in  fine,  it  is  the  ordinary  Moun- 
tain Qrail  of  most  parts  of  California,  aside 
from  the  restricted  Coast  Range  of  the  pre- 
ceding, and  also  the  one  which  extends  E. 
into  Nevada.  The  distinction  is  a  subtle  one, 
but  I  am  willing  to  let  the  subspecies  pass 
muster  with  a  hundred  others  of  which  I' 
have  no  favorable  private  opinion"  (p.  758). 
This  subspecies  is  a  good  one,  Cones'  dictum 
to  the  contrary,  it  having  been  recognized  by 
Gould  as  early  as  the  year  1837,  not  1857  as 
Doctor  Coues  gives  it  to  us. 

Finally,  we  have  the  San  Pedro  Quail,  a 
subspecies  confined  to  "San  Bernardino  and 
San  Gabriel  Mountains,  Southern  California, 
south  to  Hansen  Laguna  and  San  Pedro  Ma- 
tir  Mountains,  Lower  California."  This  bird 
bears  the  scientific  names  of  O.  p.  con  finis,  be- 
stowed upon  it  on  account  of  its  being  found 
on  a  range  which  borders  or  adjoins  the 
range  of  another  subspecies  of  the  same 
genus  (Latin).  It  was  first  described  by 
Mr.  Anthony  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Cali- 
fornia Academy  of  Sciences  (2d  series  II, 
Oct.  11,  1889,  page  74). 

Wilson  knew  nothing  of  any  of  these  west- 
ern quails,  as  that  part  of  the  United  States 
was  unexplored  in  his  time ;  while  Audu- 
bon's  figures  of  the  "Californian  Partridge" 
and  the  "Plumed  Partridge"  present  so  many 
inaccuracies  that  it  would  hardly  be  a  profit- 
able undertaking  to  occupy  valuable  space 
here  for  their  pointing  out.  His  descriptions 
of  these  birds  are  made  up  from  what  Town- 
send  wrote  him  about  them,  and  from  a 
specimen  or  two  he  had  had  loaned  him. 
Audubon  also  figures  a  "Welcome  Partridge" 
from  "the  north-west  coast  of  America" 
(Ortix  neoxenus),  which  was  originally  de- 
scribed and  named  by  Vigors  (Garden  and 
Menagerie  of  Zool.  Soc.  ii,  p.  311),  and 
which  may  or  may  not  be  a  young  bird  of 
one  of  the  Mountain  Quails ;  in  any  event, 
we  have  no  "Welcome  Partridge"  in  this 
country. 

Sometimes  they  used  to  put  jokes  up  on 
Audubon ;  and  many  years  ago,  the  veteran 
taxidermist  of  New  York  City,  Mr.  John  G. 
Bell,  who  was  out  West  with  him  on  some 
expedition  or  other  to  the  Missouri  River, 
once  told  me  how  he  "fooled  old  man  Au- 
dubon with  the  skin  of  a  vireo"  which  he, 
Bell,  had  so  manipulated  that  it  appeared  to 
be  a  new  species ! 

By  referring  to  Fig.  7  of  this  Part  we 
may  study  such  of  the  characters  of  the 
form  and  plumage  of  one  of  these  Moun- 
tain Quails,  as  will  serve  as  an  aid  to  dis- 


tinguish any  bird  of  the  genus  from  any 
other  species  of  the  family.  It  will  be  noted 
that  the  head  is  not  only  slightly  crested,  but 
it  bears  likewise  a  long,  backward-extending 
feather-plume  composed  of  two  slender,  dark- 
colored  or  black  keeled  feathers.  They  are 
about  three  or  four  inches  in  length,  being 
longer  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  and 
normally  appear  as  only  one  feather,  not  as 
two,  as  drawn  by  Audu'bon  and-  followed  by 
Coues  without  criticism.  These  birds  have 
stout  bills  and  feet  and  twelve  feathers  in 
the  tail.  Males  and  females  are  alike,  barring 
some  slight  differences  as  the  one  just  pointed 
out.  They  are  big,  stout  quails  of  great 
beauty  of  plumage,  the  color  areas  1  eing 
definitely  massed. 

In  the  Mountain  Quail  (O.  />.  picta}  the 
throat  is  of  a  chestnut  color,  bordered  with 
black  and  white,  the  latter  being  outermost 
and  continued  round  under  the  lower  mandi- 
ble. Forehead,  ashy  gray;  back,  wings  and 
tail,  olive-brown ;  upper  and  lower  breast, 
slatey-gray,  shaded  above  with  olive-brown, 
and-  marbled  below  with  black  in  fine  pencil- 
ings.  Tail,  fuscous  and  similarly  marked; 
wings,  olive-brown,  with  the  inner  secondaries 
and  tertiaries  bordered  with  buff ;  primary 
feathers  also  fuscous,  like  the  body-color  of 
the  tail-feathers.  Belly,  chestnut,  with  the 
sides  barred  with  broad  bars  of  black  and 
white  (Fig.  7),  the  latter  sometimes  shaded 
with  rufous-white,  which  latter  is  the  color 
of  the  feathers  of  the  tibiae,  the  flanks,  and 
the  hinder  abdominal  area.  Crissum  black, 
lined  with  clear  chestnut,  the  black  having  a 
velvety  appearance.  Bill  dusky,  and  the  feet 
are  of  a  pale  brown.  With  this  description, 
aided  by  Fig.  7,  any  one  will  be  able  to  pick 
out  a  Mountain  Quail  of  the  genus  Oreortyx. 
Passing  to  the  Plumed  Quail  (O.  p.  plumi- 
fera),  we  find  that  it  is  very  much  like  the 
last  one  described ;  the  olive-brown  area,  how- 
ever, is  less,  and  the  slaty-gray  is  correspond- 
ingly extended  on  the  back  and  underparts ; 
forehead,  soiled  white  instead  of  ashy-gray. 
In  typical  cases  the  back  of  the  neck  is  like 
the  breast,  and1  not  olive-brown  like  the  dor- 
sum  in  the  Mountain  variety.  I  am  inclined  to 
think,  from  what  I  have  read  and  heard  about 
this  subspecies,  that,  at  the  limits  of  its  range, 
specimens  are  very  much  like  the  birds  on 
the  contiguous  areas ;  in  other  words,  in  some 
places  these  various  subspecies  of  Oreortyx 
shade  into  each  other. 

It  is  said  that  the  subspecies  named  above, 
the  San  Pedro  Quail  (O.  p.  confinis},  can 
only  be  distinguished  by  possessing  "grayer 
upper  parts  and  thicker  bill,"  a  fact  I  have 
never  had  the  opportunity  to  personally 
verify.  However,  the  subspecies  has  been 
generally  recognized  by  our  best  ornitholo- 
gists, and  it  is  therefore  quite  likely  that,  in 
the  case  of  typical  specimens  from  the  San 
Pedro  Martir  Mountains,  we  will  find  birds 
constantly  exhibiting  the  characters  claimed 
for  this  subspecies. 


-BELLIED    SCALED    QUAIL    (CALLIPEPLA 
LIFE   BY   THE   AUTHOR 


CASTANOQASTRIS).       FROM 


These  birds  lay  buff-colored  eggs,  and  oth- 
erwise present  habits  of  the  Quails  in  general 
with  special  ones  pertaining  to  the  genus. 
Much  has  been  published  about  them,  espe- 
cially in  Pacific  Coast  literature,  and  to  this 
the  reader  is  referred  for  further  accounts  of 
their  life  histories.  No  one  with  the  ordi- 
nary powers  of  an  observer  could  possibly 
mistake  any  of  the  "Mountain  Quails"  for 
any  one  of  the  "Valley"  species,  as  for  in- 
stance the  California  Quail  of  the  genus 
Lophortyx,  an  example  of  which  I  here  pre- 
sent in  Fig.  9  of  this  Part,  a  most  gentle  little 
bird  which  I  photographed  a  number  of  times 
while  it  was  in  my  possession. 

Our  next  genus  contains  the  "Scaled 
Quails,"  and  the  name  Callipepla  (Wagler) 
has  been  bestowed  upon  it,  which  is  a  term 
from  the  Greek  and  means  beautifully  ar- 
rayed (KalUpeplas}. 

These  birds  have  long  tails  composed-  of 
fourteen  feathers — an  unusual  number  for 
quails.  The  sexes  are  very  much  alike,  and 
both  have  the  emarginated  feathers  of  the 
lower  parts,  giving  that  scaled  or  shelled 
appearance  which  suggested  the  specific  name 
for  the  genus  (Latin  squamata,  like  a  scale). 
They  are  forms  which  occur  on  the  southern 
boundaries  of  the  United  States,  the  range 
of  the  Scaled  Quail  (C.  s.  squamata)  having 
been  given  as  "Upper  and  Lower  Sonoran 
Zones  from  central  Arizona  to  western  Texas, 


north  to  southern  Colorado,  and  over  the 
most  part  of  the  Panhandle  of  Texas,  east 
nearly  to  central  Texas,  and  south  to  the 
valley  of  Mexico;"  while  the  Chestnut-bellied 
Scaled  Quail  occurs  in  the  "Lower  Sonoran 
Zone  of  southern  Texas,  from  Eagle  Pass 
and  San  Antonio  south  to  northern  parts  of 
Coahuila,  Nuevo  Leon,  and  Tamaulipas." 

These  Scaled  Quails  are  desert  forms,  and 
the  sexes  are  more  or  less  alike — the  female 
being  somewhat  smaller  with  a  trifle  duller 
plumage.  They  average  about  ten  or  eleven 
inches  in  length,  and  have  an  alar  extent  of 
over  fourteen  inches. 

The  Scaled  Quail  is  of  a  general  slaty-blue 
color,  including  the  soft  crest  of  the  head1, 
which  latter  terminates  in  pure  white  (Fig. 
8).  On  the  back  and  wings  the  gray  shades 
into  an  olive-brown,  becoming  redder,  pos- 
teriorly, beneath  the  wings.  Abdomen  buffy 
and  pale-colored.  Feathers  of  neck  and  lower 
parts  black  emarginated,  producing  the  afore- 
said scaled1  appearance.  Like  the  dorsum,  the 
elongated  flank  feathers  are  of  an  olive- 
brown,  with  long  oval  white  spots  marking 
each  feather,  these,  in  some  cases,  resem- 
bling stripes  with  edgings  of  brown.  Poste- 
riorly, on  the  flanks  and  under  tail-coverts  the 
feather-emarginations  gradually  disappear  or 
become  very  faintly  marked,  arrow  or  heart- 
shaped  markings  taking  their  place.  When 
the  wings  are  closed,  either  one  presents  the 


481 


FIG.  9.      CALIFORNIA  QUAIL    (L.   C.    GALIFORNIGA). 
Note  that  the  feathers  of  the  ornament  of  the  head   arc  drawn  together  so  i 


MALE. 
s  to  appear  as  one  feather. 


lengthwise  stripe  seen  in  all  of  our  United 
States  Quail,  it  being  formed  by  the  light- 
colored1  edgings  of  the  inner  secondary  feath- 
ers. Tail,  lead-colored.  Primaries,  fuscous 
and  unmarked.  These  birds  lay  from  eight 
to  sixteen  eggs  to  the  clutch  in  a  nest  they 
build  on  the  ground;  they  are  generally  of  a 
pale,  buff  shade  and  evenly  speckled. 

Lastly,  in  this  genus  we  have  the  Chestnut- 
bellied  Scaled  Quail  or  Partridge  (C.  s.  cast- 
anogastris),  which  is  a  subspecies  resembling 
the  former;  but  the  plumage  is  generally 
darker,  the  crown  and  the  dorsum  being  of 
the  same  shade  as  is  the  breast  and  sides  of 
the  head.  Throat  lighter.  In  the  male  bird 
there  is  an  abdominal  median  area  of  a  dark 
chestnut  color  which  is  conspicuously  defined. 
This  is  rarely  found  in  any  of  the  females  of 
this  interesting  subspecies  of  Callipepla. 

C.  squamata  is  widely  known  in  the  South- 
west as  the  "Blue  Quail,"  and  it  associates, 
as  I  have  been  told,  with  Gamfcel's  Quail — 
that  is,  Lophortyx  gambeli  of  the  genus  to  be 


described  in  the  remaining  Part  (IV)  of  this 
series  of  articles. 

A  good  many  years  ago,  when  I  was  serv- 
ing as  Post  Surgeon  at  Fort  Wingate,  New 
Mexico,  these  birds,  that  is  C.  s.  squamata, 
were  not  uncommon  in  the  county  about  forty 
miles  east  of  the  Post  on  the  plains,  near  a 
place  called  Grant;  while  in  the  nearby  hills 
the  'Tool  hen"  or  Mearns'  Quail  (Cyrtonyx 
m.  mearnsi)  was  occasionally  to  be  found, 
that  locality  being  the  northern  limit  of  its 
range  in  those  times. 

There  is  no  question  but  what  any  of  these 
quails  might  be  successfully  raised  in  cap- 
tivity, proper  regard  being  paid  to  their 
necessities  and  food.  Just  at  this  time  there 
seems  to  be  some  evidences  that  the  matter 
of  rearing  all  kinds  of  game  birds  in  this  way, 
on  public  and  private  preserves,  is  attracting 
more  general  attention,  and  enterprises  of 
the  kind  should1  be  encouraged  in  every  pos- 
sible way. 


Fig.    10. 


California  Quail    (Lophortyx   Californdca).      Male   in   Full   Plumage.      Slightly   Less 
than   Half   Natural   Size.      Photo  from  Life  by  the  Author. 


American  Bob-White  and  Quails 

By  DR.   R.  W.  SHUFELDT,  C.  M.  Z.  S. 

PART  IV.— QUAILS  OP  THE  GENERA  Lophortyx  and  Cyrtonyx, 
WITH  NOTES  ON  THE  QUAIL  OF  EUROPE 

WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS   FROM   PHOTOGRAPHS  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


|N  SO  far  as  authoritative  works 
upon  the  science  of  ornithology 
are  concerned,  perhaps  the  most 
indifferent  and  downright  inac- 
curate collection  of  quail  pictures 
extant  are  the  ones  to  be  found 
in  the  fifth  edition  of  the  "Key  to  North 
American  Birds"  by  Elliott  Coues.  It  was 
surely  a  great  pity  to  mar  such  a  useful  work 
as  that  has  proved  to  be  by  the  employment 
of  figures  of  that  character.  His  own  draw- 
ings of  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bob  White"  are  truly 
ridiculous  caricatures  of  what  they  were  in- 
tended to  represent.  Fig.  508 — the  Bob-white 
family — carries  idealism  to  the  limit  (p.  755)  ; 
the  Masked  Bob-white  is  not  recognizable,  and 
the  head  of  Gambel's  quail,  drawn  by  the 
author,  is  quite  incorrect.  Moreover,  he  has 


drawn  the  feathers  of  the  plume  all  standing 
apart,  while  under  Brehm's  wretched  figure, 
on  the  very  next  page  (Fig.  512),  of  the  "Cali- 
fornia Helmet  Quail,"  he  criticizes  this  point, 
remarking  that  in  life  "the  feathers  of  the 
crest  are  always  bundled  in  a  bunch,  not 
standing  apart,  as  in  this  figure"  (p.  759).  On 
p.  760,  the  figure  designated  as  "Gambel's 
Quail"  is  not  that  bird  at  all,  but  a  reproduc- 
tion 01  a  very  poorly  mounted  specimen  of 
the  California  quail,  the  white  loral  stripes 
being  plainly  seen.  He  reproduces  in  Fig.  511 
the  incorrect  figure  of  Audubon  of  the  Plumed 
Quail.  In  life  the  feathers  of  the  plume  in 
that  species  never  stand  far  apart  as  there 
represented,  while  it  is  quite  incorrect  in 
other  particulars.  Finally,  the  head"  of  the 
"Massena  Quail"  on  page  762  is  as  absurd  a 


FIG.  11.   MEARNS'  QUAIL  (CYRTONYX  M.  MEARNSI).  MALE.  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


picture  as  any  one  would  care  to  see.  It  has 
been  given  a  crest  of  which  no  quail  in  the 
world  ever  had  the  like. 

These  various  criticisms  are  made  here  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  setting  forth  the  several 
errors  they  take  into  account,  in  that  sports- 
men, naturalists  and  others  may  not  be  led 
astray  by  them.  Through  personal  examina- 
tion any  competent  ornithologist  may  satisfy 
himself  of  their  justness. 

Coues  designated  the  Valley  Quails  as  "Hel- 
met Quails"  for  the  reason  that  their  "elegant 
crests"  are  recurved  "helmet-wise."  No  one 
else  appears  to  have  noticed  the  resemblance, 
and  so  the  term  has  never  come  into  use,  in 
so  far  as  I  am  aware. 

These  California  or  Valley  Quail  belong  to 
the  genus  Lophortyx,  the  name  being  derived 
from  two  Greek  words  meaning  a  crested 
quail.  The  bird  shown  in  Fig.  10  is  an  ex- 
cellent example  of  them,  and  a  well  known 
one  of  the  aforesaid  genus.  Two  species 
make  up  the  latter,  that  is,  L.  californica  and 
L.  gambeli. 

Lophortyx  californica  ranges  over  J;he  Pa- 
cific coast  region  from  Oregon  to  southern 
Lower  California.  It  is  represented  by  two 
sub-species,  L.  c.  californica,  the  type  Califor- 
nia Quail,  it  being  found  throughout  the 
'Humid  Transition  and  Upper  Sonoran  zones 
of  the  Pacific  coast  reeion.  from  southwest- 
ern Oregon  south  to  Monterey  County.  Cali- 
fornia; introduced  into  Vancouver  Island, 
Washington,  and  Colorado.  While  the  second 


sub-species  or  the  Valley  Quail  (L.  c.  valli- 
cola)  occurs  in  the  'Subarid  Upper  and  Lower 
Sonoran  zones,  from  the  Klamath  Lake  re- 
gion, Oregon,  south  throughout  California 
(except  humid  coast  strip  and  eastern  desert 
region)  to  Cape  San  Lucas,  Lower  California, 
and  east  to  mountains  of  western  Nevada.' 

Gambel's  Quail  is  a  distinct  species  and  a 
very  well  known  one  to  sportsmen  In  Cali- 
fornia. It  was  named  for  William  Gambel, 
the  naturalist,  as  long  ago  as  1843.  It  is  said 
to  range  throughout  the  'Lower  Sonoran  des- 
ert region  of  southern  California,  southern 
Nevada,  Arizona,  and  southwestern  Utah, 
east  of  the  southwestern  corner  of  Colorado, 
and  also  in  southwestern  New  Mexico  to  the 
Rio  Grande  Valley  and  the  El  Paso  region 
of  extreme  western  Texas,  and  south  into 
northeastern  corner  of  Lower  California  and 
to  Guaymas,  Sonora.' 

As  elsewhere  stated,  this  bird  often  asso- 
ciates in  flocks  with  the  Scaled  Quails  on  the 
borders  of  deserts,  and  so  forth,  and  in  Cali- 
fornia many  know  the  species  as  the  Top-knot 
Quail. 

Any  birds  of  the  genus  Lophortyx  may  be 
known  by  the  form  of  their  crests,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  10  of  this  Part.  This  crest  may  de- 
velop to  become  an  inch  in  length,  being 
composed  of  six  or  seven  glossy  black,  imbri- 
cated feathers,  there  generally  being  fewer  in 
the  crest  of  the  female.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
she  is  smaller  than  the  male  and  her  plumage 
is  quite  different.  The  tail  has  from  ten  to 


576 


FIG.    12. 


COMMON   QUAIL  OF   EUROPE    (COTURNIX   COTURNIX).      MALE. 
URAL  SIZE.      PHOTO  FROM  LIFE   BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


m 

HALF   NAT- 


fourteen  feathers— the  normal  number  being 
twelve — and  less  or  more  constitute  excep- 
tions. It  is  about  four-fifths  the  length  of  a 
wing,  and  when  the  feet  are  stretched  out 
alongside  of  it,  the  toes  do  not  reach  to 
its  end. 

The  male  has  a  deep,  jet-black  throat  and 
chin,  with  a  white  border  (Fig.  10).  A 
straight  white  line  from  the  base  of  the  crest, 
on  either  side,  backward  to  the  body  line. 
These  markings  are  absent  in  the  hen. 

These  few  characters  will  place  any  one  of 
these  quails  in  the  genus,  as  compared  with 
any  of  the  others  found  in  this  country  not 
belonging  to  Lophortyx. 

Coming  next  to  the  subspecies,  we  find  that 
the  male  of  the  California  Quail  has  a  minute 
white  stripe  running  from  the  eye  to  the  bill 
(Fig.  10).  The  top  of  the  head  is  of  a  sooty- 
brown,  while  the  forehead  is  inclined  to  be 
whitish,  with  minute  linear  markings  of  black. 
Neck  feathers  speckled  with  white  and  with 
dark  edging  and  shaft-lines.  Back,  ashy- 
gray,  glossed  with  brownish-olive,  the  combi- 
nation resulting  in  a  beautiful  shade  and  is 
very  conspicuous.  Breast,  slate-color  or  a 
slate-blue.  Lower  breast,  deep  tan,  becoming 
an  elegant  golden  brown  on  the  abdomen, 
where  the  feathers  come  to  have  glossy  black 
edges  to  them.  Flank  and  sides  like  the  dor- 
sum,  all  the  feathers  being  marked  by  clean- 
cut  longitudinal  stripes  of  white.  Crissum 
and  lower  abdominal  area,  tan-brown  with  the 


longitudinal  median  stripes  of  the  feathers 
dark,  blackish  brown. 

The  rich  brown  color  on  the  abdomen  is 
wanting  in  the  female,  and  her  breast  is  of  an 
olive-gray. 

Length,  ten  to  eleven  inches.  Young  and 
chicks  have  special  plumages  that  need  not  be 
described  here. 

Sometimes,  it  is  said,  this  species  may 
build  its  nest  in  some  shrub  or  even  in  a  tree; 
but  it  usually  builds  on  the  ground,  as  in  the 
case  of  Gambel's  and  other  quails.  Eggs, 
from  ten  to  twenty,  pale  buff  or  creamy  in 
color,  blotched  and  spotted  all  over  with  spots 
of  various  shades  of  brown  and  drab.  These 
are  beautifully  figured  in  color  in  Bendire's 
work,  and  the  variations  they  present  are 
truly  remarkable.  Four  specimens,  natural 
size,  are  shown  on  the  Plate,  together  with  the 
eggs  of  all  of  our  other  quails — a  most  inter- 
esting display. 

The  Valley  Quail  (/..  c.  vallicola)  is  the 
island  bird,  and  when  typical  specimens  are 
secured,  they  are  found  to  be  subspeci Really 
perfectly  distinct  from  the  last,  being  lighter 
in  color,  grayer  on  the  dorsum  and  flanks, 
with  some  few  other  color  differences,  such 
as  the  line  along  the  internal  edge  of  either 
wing  being  a  very  pale  tan  instead  of  a 
brownish-olive. 

Coues  remarks  that  no  specimens,  up  to 
bis  time,  were  taken  that  exhibited  the  slight- 


578 


The  Outer's  Book 


est  intergradation  between  this  form  and  the 
one  described  above.  I  may  say  here  that, 
personally,  I  have  never  seen  one  in  my  life- 
time. 

As  stated  before,  Gambel's  Quail  is  a  very 
distinct  species,  and  the  male  may  at  once 
be  recognized  by  the  little  white  stripe  be- 
the  beak  and  eye  being  absent.  Moreover,  the 
forehead  is  black  with  fine  white  linear  mark- 
ings. There  is  no  white  speckling  on  the 
neck,  while  the  top  of  the  head  is  of  a  chest- 
nut brown.  Above,  clear  ash,  which  is  also 
the  color  of  the  upper  breast.  A  large,  glossy 
black  area  on  the  abdomen,  which  is  lacking 
in  the  female.  Remaining  lower  parts  whitish, 
tinged  with  buff,  becoming  purplish  chestnut 
on  the  sides,  the  feathers  being  striped  with 
white  as  in  the  California  Quail.  Posteriorly, 
on  the  crissum,  flanks,  and  hinder  abdominal 
area  the  feathers  are  whitish,  and  the 
streaks  pale  ash  or  even  dusky.  Irides,  brown; 
bill,  deep  black. 

In  the  female  the  crest  is  composed  of 
fewer  feathers;  they  are  of  a  dark  brown 
color  and  do  not  curl  forward  as  in  the  male 
bird.  Where  the  black  abdominal  area  is 
absent,  it  is  replaced  by  feathers  of_  a  dingy 
white  shade,  showing  medio-longitudinal  dark 
streaks,  the  whole  constituting  a  character  by 
which  the  female  of  this  species  may  at  once 
be  recognized. 

The  plumages  of  the  young  and  the  chicks 
are  well  known,  but  they  need  not  be  de- 
scribed here,  and  the  same  applies  to  the  eggs, 
which  are  much  like  tho5e  of  the  California 
Quail,  only  their  tone  is  somewhat  heavier. 

We  now  come  to  the  genus  Cyrtonyx,  the 
last  of  our  United  States  Quails  to  be  de- 
scribed in  these  articles. 

The  type  subspecies  of  this  genus  is  an 
extralimital  one,  being  found  only  in  Mexico 
(C.  montezumae  montezutnae')  ;  while  our 
subspecies  or  Mearns'  Quail  (C.  m.  mearnsi) 
occurs  from  central  Arizona  and  central  New 
Mexico,  eastward  to  central  Texas  and  south- 
ward into  northern  Mexico.  This  is  a  big- 
billed  and  very  remarkable  bird  with  large 
and  extraordinary-looking  claws,  which  last 
accounts  for  its  generic  name  (Greek,  Kurtos, 
bent;  and  onux,  a  claw). 

As  will  he  observed  from  Fig.  11  of  the 
present  Part,  it  has  a  full  crest  on  the  occiput 
composed  of  soft  feathers.  There  are  but 
twelve  feathers  in  the  unusually  short  tail,  it 
being  in  life  almost  entirely  concealed  by  the 
coverts.  Wing-coverts  are  conspicuously  large 
and  quite  cover  the  primaries  of  the  wings. 

The  characters  of  the  feet  are  well  shown 
in  my  figure,  as  are  also  the  ocellated  body- 
feathers  and  the  remarkable  striping  of  the 
head  in  the  male  bird.  Plumage  of  the 
female  quite  unlike  that  of  the  male,  and  she 
lays  pure  white  eggs  without  any  markings 
whatever.  One  of  these  latter  I  figured  in 
The  Nidoloz.ist  a  good  many  years  ago,  and 
Major  Bendire  also  has  it  in  his  work. 

Mearns'   Quail   was  named  by  Nelson,   the 


Arctic  explorer,  in  honor  of  Dr.  Edgar  A. 
Mearns  of  the  Army,  one  of  the  naturalists 
who  accompanied  Colonel  Roosevelt  upon  his 
African  Expedition. 

This  bird  has  the  prevailing  colors  of  the 
back  much  variegated,  they  being  of  a  rufous, 
tan,  and  some  black,  the  shaft-lines  of  the 
feathers  being  buffy  or  white.  Round  black 
spots  and  black  bars  on  the  wings  (Fig.  11), 
these,  on  each  feather,  being  regularly  paired. 
Below,  the  dark  feathers  are  each  character- 
ized by  having  paired,  white,  round  spots,  giv- 
ing the  entire  area  a  white,  spotted  appear- 
ance, which  is  very  striking,  not  to  say  hand- 
some. Median  line  of  breast  and  abdomen, 
vandyke-brown,  while  the  flanks,  sides  and 
area  about  the  vent  are  shiny  black.  Occiput, 
black  anteriorly,  slightly  speckled  with  white. 
Crest,  brown.  Throat,  black,  and  the  head 
striped  as  shown  in  Figure  11  with  black  and 
white. 

Adult  female  quite  unlike  the  male  indicated 
in  the  merging  of  the  markings,  and  the  more 
general  fulvous  shade  to  the  feathers.  Head 
shows  no  peculiar  markings,  and  the  throat  is 
either  light  buff  or  even  whitish.  Lower  parts 
lighter,  and  the  feathers  generally  mottled 
with  white  and  black. 

A  male  bird  measures  about  nine  inches  in 
extreme  length,  and  has  an  extent  of  about 
seventeen.  No  one  could  possibly  mistake 
one  of  these  quails  for  any  other  species,  and 
they  are  generally  known  on  the  ranges  in 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona  as  "fool  quail"  on 
account  of  the  reluctance  with  which  they 
take  wing,  and  what  happens  to  be  a  stupid 
fearlessness  of  man. 

This  quail  is  generally  found  in  wooded 
districts,  ranging  up  in  the  mountains  for 
over  nine  thousand  feet.  It  is  by  no  means 
gregarious  as  is  the  case  with  other  quails, 
and  often  only  a  bird  or  two  will  be  put  up. 
I  have  handled  it  in  the  flesh  only  a  few 
times;  but  I  think  that,  of  all  the  beautiful 
quails  I  have  ever  seen,  the  male  of  this 
species,  in  full  spring  plumage,  is  the  hand- 
somest game  bird  we  have  in  this  country. 

It  makes  a  neat  nest  on  the  ground,  and  I 
have  already  referred  to  the  eggs  in  a  former 
paragraph. 

In  closing  this  account  of  our  United  States 
quails  I  desire  to  add  a  few  notes  on  the 
Common  Quail  of  Europe. 

Coues  gives  a  description  of  this  species  in 
the  last  edition  of  his  "Key"  (Vol.  II,  p.  751), 
illustrating  it  with  a  figure  from  Brehm,  which 
is  rather  indifferent.  These  birds  I  have  had 
alive  several  times,  and  my  photographs  of 
them  are  reproduced  in  figures  12  and  13  of 
the  present  Part.  My  chief  object  in  intro- 
ducing them  here  has  been  to  show  how  little 
they  look  like  any  of  our  American  quails. 
On  this  point  Coues  remarks,  after  statine 
that  the  bird  occurs  in  "Europe.  Asia,  and 
Africa,"  that  it  has  been  "recently  imported 
and  turned  loose  in  considerable  numbers  in 
the  U.  S.,  as  in  New  England;  but  its  perma- 


13.   COMMON  QUAIL  OF  EUROPE  (C.  COTURNIX).   FEMALE.   RATHER 
THAN  HALF  NATURAL  SIZE.   PHOTO  FROM  LIFE  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


nent  naturalization  is  open  to  question.  If 
one  will  compare  this  bird  with  Bob  White 
he  will  see  how  very  different  is  the  Old 
World  Quail  from  our  Colins,  or  any  other 
birds  of  this  country  called  'quail';  but  that 
it  resembles  these  more  nearly  than  the  Euro- 
pean Partridge,  Perdix  cinerea,  does ;  so  that, 
if  we  must  borrow  a -name  from  any  Old 
World  birds  for  our  species  of  Colinus,  Lo- 


phortyx,  Callipepla,  etc.,  the  term  'quail'  is 
rather  more  appropriate  than  'partridge.' " 

The  sexes  differ  somewhat,  while  in  both 
the  prevailing  colors  are  whitish,  buff,  black 
and  various  shades  of  brown. 

Whether  there  are  any  of  these  quails  at 
large  in  the  country  at  the  present  time  I  am 
unable  to  state;  it  would,  however,  be  inter- 
esting to  know  of  this  fact. 


Was  It  Buck  Fever? 


By    GEO.    H.    WALLACE. 


VERY  good  friend  of  the  Out- 
er's Book  was  asked  the  question 
not  very  long  ago,  whether  he 
ever  had  buck  fever,  and  if  he 
was  ever  really  scared  while  in 
the  pursuit  of  big  game.  He 
was  a  man  of  perhaps  thirty-five,  tall  and 
well  built,  and  descended  from  several  gen- 
erations of  a  pure  strain  of  "the  fighting  race." 
His  father  was  a  fighter  both  with  the 
"shillalay,"  and  the  old  muzzle  loading  Spring- 
field. With  the  former  he  could  crack  a  skull 
at  close  quarters  at  the  fair  in  Derry  as  fast 
as  opponents  cared  to  present  themselves,  and 
with  the  latter  he  could  make  life,  while  it 
lasted-,  a  horrible  nightmare  for  any  of  his 
friends,  the  enemy,  as  far  as  he  could  dis- 
tinguish a  gray  or  a  butternut  uniform,  and 
it  was  but  natural  that  the  gift  of  fight  and 


the  incentive  to  bring  home  the  bacon  should 
be  handed  down  to  his  son  of  whom  this 
sketch  is  written. 

As  a  preliminary  answer  to  the  question, 
he  settled  himself  a  little  more  in  the  chair, 
tipped  his  hat  back  on  his  head,  and  threw 
one  foot  up  on  the  corner  of  the  desk.  He 
sighed  once  as  a  prelude,  folded  his  hands  and 
gazed  absently  at  a  stuffed  duck  on  the  mantle 
and  admitted: 

"I  have  heard  old  soldiers — and  young  ones 
too,  some  of  those  that  liberated  Cuba  and 
the  Philippines  from  the  safe  confines  of 
some  training  camp  in  'the  states' — say  that 
they  were  never  scared  in  the  presence  of 
the  enemy,  be  it  a  she  grizzly  with  her 
cubs,  or  a  troop  of  cavalry  bearing  down  on 
them,  four  to  one,  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand 
'and  a  sabre  in  the  other,'  and  guaranteeing  no 


579 


58C 


quart  ,„..  ^aii  just  take  it  from  me 

that  the  man  never  lived  that  never  felt  a 
tinge  of  fear.  If  not  at  the  first  fire,  he  most 
certainly  did  at  some  time  or  other — and  may- 
be every  time,  although  he  won't  admit  it. 

"The  first  time  that  I  ever  was  scared— the 
first  time,  mind1  you — was  when  I  was — let 
me  see —  I  guess  when  I  was  along  about 
fourteefi  years  old,  and  my  hair  stood  up 
so  straight  and  so  persistently  on  that  oc- 
casion that  I  couldn't  comb  it  for  a  week. 

"I  was  born  and  raised  on  a  farm  about 
twenty  miles  west  of  Milwaukee  at  a  little 
crossroads  near  Essex.  My  parents  had 
moved  to  Wisconsin  so  long  ago  that  the 
Indians  were  still  wont  to  comb  a  fellow's 
hair  with  the  edge  of  a  knife,  and  bear  and 
deer  were  quite  common,  while  wolves,  lynx 
and  cats  were  somewhat  of  a  nuisance. 

"Later  on  my  parents  removed  to  Essex, 
which  was  so  far  within  the  pales  of  civiliza- 
tion that  an  occasional  fox  was  the  most 
dangerous  animal  that  us  youngsters  came  up 
against,  unless  it  might  have  been  my  father 
with  a  harness  tug,  when  necessity  demanded. 

"So  when  a  pair  of  lynx  appeared  in  our 
peaceful  community  and  gathered  a  few  stray 
lambs,  fowls,  etc.,  consternation  reigned 
throughout  that  section  of  the  country.  These 
varmints  were  seen  in  so  many  different  and 
widely  separated  localities  at  the  same  time, 
that  they  enjoyed  a  reputation  for  shiftiness 
achieved  only  by  a  well-established  train  rob- 
ber in  the  west  when  business  was  good. 

"On  a  number  of  occasions  one  or  the 
other  of  the  animals  was  seen,  and  even  shot 
at,  but  No.  8  shot  at  long  range  is  not  calcu- 
lated to  offer  much  resistance  to  the  devilish 
intentions  of  an  outlaw  with  blood  in  his  eye. 
Wild  animals  that  are  frequently  hunted  or 
trapped,  soon  come  to  believe  that  they  are 
immune  and  show  in  many  ways  their  con- 
tempt for  man.  But  sooner  or  later,  they 
make  a  miscue  and  yield  their  lives  as  a 
trophy  to  the  superior  mind  of  man. 

"One  quiet  and  peaceful  Sunday  afternoon, 
along  in  September,  Mark  Moulster  was  sit- 
ting beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees  on  his 
spacious  lawn  on  the  outskirts  of  a  little  vil- 
lage called  Martin,  about  four  miles  west  of 
our  place,  and  near  where  my  adventure  later 
took  place,  reading  the  last  Sunday  school 
paper.  Suddenly  the  peace  and  dignity  of 
the  day  was  broken  by  the  baying  of  a  pack 
of  hounds  that  was  made  up  of  all  breeds 
known  to  a  man  rolled  into  one  vast  batch, 
like  dough,  and  then  cut  off  into  dogs  like 
loaves  of  bread. 

"Even  if  these  dogs  did  not  have  enough  of 
any  one  strain  to  call  them  a  breed,  they  had 
the  grit,  and  before  Moulster  could  straighten 
up  in  the  hammock,  remove  his  glasses  and 
take  an  observation,  that  pack  of  mongrel 
dogs  were  barking  lustily  beneath  a  sawed-off 
maple  tree  in  the  front  yard,  in  the  lower 
branches  of  which  reposed  a  large  lynx. 
"Moulster's  pursuits  of  peace  were  prose- 


cuted so  thoroughly  that  any  warlike  attitude 
that  he  may  have  ever  had,  was  lost  in  the 
misty  past.  So  when  big  game  thrust  itself 
upon  him  in  this  manner,  begging  to  be  slain, 
he  was  almost  up  against  it  for  a  means  unto 
the  end — that  is,  the  end  of  the  lynx. 

"In  one  corner  of  the  spare  bedroom  closet 
stood  an  old  muzzle  loading  shotgun  that 
perhaps  ante-dated  the  civil  war — and  had 
been  a  stranger  to  the  hands  of  man  since. 
He  recalled  that  at  the  time  Lee  surrendered 
the  old  gun  had  been  used  to  fire  salutes,  and 
there  ought  to  be  a  little  powder  left  over 
some  place.  So  he  searched  the  pantry  with 
a  thoroughness  worthy  of  a  better  purpose, 
and  finally  found  about  a  spoonful  in  an 
old  indigo  bottle  back  behind  the  spice  boxes. 

"This  was  fed  into  the  muzzle  of  the  gun 
and  duly  tamped1  with  a  part  of  the  aforesaid 
Sunday  school  paper — the  better  the  day  the 
better  the  deed.  But  right  here  the  am- 
munition stopped  with  a  suddenness  that  was 
shocking.  No  shot — no  caps.  This  was  a 
dilemma,  but  the  warlike  spirit  of  a  belligerent 
ancestor,  which  had  lain  dormant  for  cen- 
turies again  asserted:  itself  and  the  day  was 
saved.  With  a  hammer  and  cold-chisel  Mark 
chopped  up  enough  nails  to  put  the  quietus 
on  a  whale,  and  he  rammed  in  a  generous 
quantity  on  top  of  the  stale  powder,  capped 
with  some  more  of  the  story  paper. 

"A  cracking  match  in  lieu  of  a  cap  com- 
pleted the  equipment,  and  thus  armed  he  sal- 
lied forth  to  meet  the  enemy,  which  the  yip- 
ping  of  the  noble  dogs  told  him  was  still  on 
the  job.  Mark  approached  for  a  direct  as- 
sault. When  he  had  reached  a  point  where 
he  was  almost  under  the  beast,  he  raised  the 
old  fusee  till  its  muzzle  was  not  over  six 
feet  from  the  target — where  he  could  not  miss 
— and  pointed  the  gun  at  the  animal  in  a 
general  way,  fixed  the  match  on  the  nipple  and 
pulled  the  trigger.  'Roarin'  Meg,'  on  the 
walls  of  'Derry,  in  all  her  glory  never  emitted 
such  a  shock  to  the  air  as  was  administered 
that  quiet  and  peaceful  Sunday  afternoon  in 
the  little  village  of  Martin.  Four  separate 
and  distinct  things  transpired  at  one  and  the 
same  time  with  such  rapidity  that  the  question 
of  precedence  has  since  been  a  matter  of  dis- 
pute. 

"There  was  a  roar  that  has  been  eclipsed 
only  by  the  explosion  of  the  powdermill  at 
Pleasant  Prairie.  All  agree  that  this  hap- 
pened first,  but  of  the  other  three,  no  one 
can  tell.  Used  as  the  dogs  were  to  rabbits 
and  squirrels,  and  the  taking  thereof,  this 
was  too  much  for  them  and  every  one  of 
them  faded  away  into  the  landscape  at  the 
same  time  that  both  Moulster  and  the  lynx 
struck  the  ground  with  the  reportorial  'dull, 
sickening  thud.'  When  Mark  came  back  to 
earth,  he  feebly  inquired  if  he  got  the  gun 
wrong  end  to.  It  was  only  when  he  saw  the 
lynx  within  five  feet  of  him,  with  a  hole 
in  its  forward  deck,  like  the  man  on  the 
front  page  of  the 'almanac,  that  he  concluded 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A  A      000302784 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

580 

'JUL  181961 

quart 

like  attitude 

that 

lost  in  the 

S5i 

JW  5     RECD 

thrust  itself 
to  be  slain, 

be    e\ 

means  unto 

"Tl 

JAN  11  1963 

lynx. 
[room  closet 

me   s 

iotgun    that 

fourt 

r  —  and    had 

so   st 
casioi 

i  2  RECQ 

man  since, 
surrendered 

salutes,  and 

twent 

r   left  over 

AUG  8     I9fip 

^^                     'Vl^J 

jantry  with 
er   purpose, 

India 

nful    in    an 

hair 

i^Jw  *     SBfm 

spice  boxes. 

deer 

^             -  -"* 

* 

of  the  gun 

and  c 

WOUf  PH    f-jiju 

le  aforesaid 

Corned,         ""CiF,  LfflL 

/                                       % 

the  day  the 

whict 

jyk  .flEC  JL  D  *« 

1 

•e    the    am- 

tion 

^»  'Afc£     — 

ss  that  was 

dange 

^**»  &§Sjf* 

Phis   was    a 

again, 

i  belligerent 

with 

it    for   cen- 

"So 

he  day  was 

peace 

bhisel  Mark 

lambs 

the  quietus 

throu; 

a  generous 

varmi 

der,  capped 

widel. 

er. 

that  1 
ber  ir 

a  cap  com- 
bed he  sal- 
!ch  the  yip- 

"Oi 

vas  still  on 

other 

direct  as- 

at,  bu 

toint  where 

lated 

FormL9  —  15m-10,'48(B1039)444                                                                                                            :    raised   the 

intentu 

j»i>  oi  an  uutiaw  vYitu  'uiuuu  ui  iiu  iji.  oia    msec   tin    its    muzzle   was    not    over    six 

Wild  animals  that  are  frequently  hunted  or 
trapped,  soon  come  to  believe  that  they  are 
immune  and  show  in  many  ways  their  con- 
tempt for  man.  But  sooner  or  later,  they 
make  a  miscue  and  yield  their  lives  as  a 
trophy  to  the  superior  mind  of  man. 

"One  quiet  and  peaceful  Sunday  afternoon, 
along  in  September,  Mark  Moulster  was  sit- 
ting beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees  on  his 
spacious  lawn  on  the  outskirts  of  a  little  vil- 
lage called  Martin,  about  four  miles  west  of 
our  place,  and  near  where  my  adventure  later 
took  place,  reading  the  last  Sunday  school 
paper.  Suddenly  the  peace  and  dignity  of 
the  day  was  broken  by  the  baying  of  a  pack 
of  hounds  that  was  made  up  of  all  breeds 
known  to  a  man  rolled  into  one  vast  batch, 
like  dough,  and  then  cut  off  into  dogs  like 
loaves  of  bread. 

"Even  if  these  dogs  did  not  have  enough  of 
any  one  strain  to  call  them  a  breed,  they  had 
the  grit,  and  before  Moulster  could  straighten 
up  in  the  hammock,  remove  his  glasses  and- 
take  an  observation,  that  pack  of  mongrel 
dogs  were  barking  lustily  beneath  a  sawed-off 
maple  tree  in  the  front  yard,  in  the  lower 
branches  of  which  reposed  a  large  lynx. 

"Moulster's  pursuits  of   peace  were  prose- 


feet  from  the  target — where  he  could  not  miss 
— and  pointed  the  gun  at  the  animal  in  a 
general  way,  fixed  the  match  on  the  nipple  and 
pulled  the  trigger.  'Roarin'  Meg,'  on  the 
walls  of  'Derry,  in  all  her  glory  never  emitted 
such  a  shock  to  the  air  as  was  administered 
that  quiet  and  peaceful  Sunday  afternoon  in 
the  little  village  of  Martin.  Four  separate 
and  distinct  things  transpired  at  one  and  the 
same  time  with  such  rapidity  that  the  question 
of  precedence  has  since  -been  a  matter  of  dis- 
pute. 

"There  was  a  roar  that  has  been  eclipsed 
only  by  the  explosion  of  the  powdermill  at 
Pleasant  Prairie.  All  agree  that  this  hap- 
pened first,  but  of  the  other  three,  no  one 
can  tell.  Used  as  the  dogs  were  to  rabbits 
and  squirrels,  and  the  taking  thereof,  this 
was  too  much  for  them  and  every  one  of 
them  faded  away  into  the  landscape  at  the 
same  time  that  both  Moulster  and  the  lynx 
struck  the  ground  with  the  reportorial  'dull, 
sickening  thud.'  When  Mark  came  back  to 
earth,  he  feebly  inquired  if  he  got  the  gun 
wrong  end  to.  It  was  only  when  he  saw  the 
lynx  within  five  feet  of  him,  with  a  hole 
in  its  forward  deck,  like  the  man  on  the 
front  page  of  the  'almanac,  that  he  concluded 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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A  A      000302784    4 


